Andre Villas-Boas wants to work with Luka Modric at Tottenham. The Guardian says Spurs have held direct negotiations with Villas-Boas and they are poised to offer him the manager's job.

Villas-Boas has sought assurances about the future of Tottenham's best players, chief among them Modric, who he tried to sign when he was at Chelsea last summer, only for chairman Daniel Levy to block the £40m proposal.

It is unclear whether Levy will be able to hold on to Modric for another season, although he is empowered to hold the player to his contract, which has four years to run. He is adamant he would not sell Modric to Chelsea or Manchester United but he may be more receptive to a bid from Real Madrid, particularly if the sum on offer was upwards of £40m.